The Estate Surveyor

Thomas Barlow, who was the estate surveyor when
building commenced, was a carpenter by trade. Little
has heretofore been known about Barlow but he emerges
as one of the most important master builders working in
west London in the early eighteenth century. The earliest
known reference to his building work is in a deed of 1701
concerning a house, probably built by him, in Albemarle
Street, (fn. 2) and he was also the builder of other houses in
that vicinity. (fn. 3) His address at that time was in Maiden
Lane, in Covent Garden, (fn. 4) where he was the building
lessee of houses in Southampton Street in 1708 and undertook repairs to St. Paul's Church in 1714–15. (fn. 5) In 1715,
however, he appears in a more significant role as 'agent'
for Lord Scarbrough in negotiations with the 'Fifty
Churches' Commissioners over the siting of a church near
Hanover Square. (fn. 6) In view of Barlow's later position on
the Grosvenor estate and the fact that Lord Scarbrough
was the promoter of the development of the Hanover
Square area (fn. 7) there must at least be a possibility that
Barlow was responsible for the layout of that development. He was certainly deeply involved in the building
operations there and appears to have been the builder
of several of the houses with a distinctively Baroque
appearance in St. George Street. (fn. 8) He was at one time
owner of the freehold of the site of St. George's Church,
but conveyed the ground to General William Steuart
who in turn gave it gratis to the Commissioners. (fn. 9) Barlow
was also active in the development of the Conduit Mead
estate and built himself a house in New Bond Street where
he lived until his death. (fn. 10) Barlow Place (formerly Mews)
off Bruton Street is named after him. (fn. 11)

In a petition addressed to the Lord Chancellor Sir
Richard Grosvenor stated that he had appointed Barlow
on 10 August 1720 'to Lett Severall Feilds or Closes …
to build upon' and that 'a Scheme or Plann of the Said
Intended Building has been Drawn by the said Barlow'. (fn. 12)
The purpose of this petition was to enable money to be
freed from Dame Mary Grosvenor's account in Chancery
in order to build sewers and to pay Barlow's expenses and
salary. He was to receive £50 for the initial work he had
undertaken and then £50 per annum 'besides his Reasonable Expences' (which generally amounted to £10 per
annum). (fn. 13) He continued to act as estate surveyor until his
death in January 1730, (fn. 14) but to what extent he exercised
control over the operations of builders is difficult to
determine. In one building agreement for a plot on the
south side of Grosvenor Street and the south-east corner
of Grosvenor Square it was stated that 'all and every of
the houses which shall be built on ye said piece of Ground
fronting Grosvenor Street aforesaid shall be built so as
to range in their fronts in such manner as Mr Thos.
Barlow the present Surveyor of the said Lunatick's Estate,
or other the Surveyor or Surveyors … for the time being
shall hereafter direct and appoint', (fn. 15) but this was an
unusually explicit reference to Barlow, perhaps because
the south side of Grosvenor Square was to be set back
from the line of Grosvenor Street. As the author of the
layout he appears to have been responsible for staking
out plots on the ground and making some adjustments
when building was under way, even correcting a 'grand
mistake' in one instance. (fn. 16) The fact that several early
leases were witnessed by the master of the Mount Coffee
House (on the site of the present No. 80 Grosvenor
Street), which was built by Barlow and was one of the
earliest buildings on the estate to be completed (by
November 1721), suggests that negotiations with builders
may well have been conducted in that establishment. (fn. 17)
One of Barlow's functions was the assessment of the value
of houses in order that money held in Chancery could be
made available to their builders on mortgage. (fn. 18) In general,
however, neither the wording of agreements and leases,
nor the surviving visual evidence suggest that Barlow
exercised a very firm control over building operations,
and when he died in 1730 it was not considered necessary
to appoint a successor. Robert Andrews took over some
of his functions and the post of estate surveyor remained
vacant until the 1780's, when the assessment of fines on
the renewal of leases posed new problems which led to
the employment of William Porden.

Like Richard and Robert Andrews, Barlow was also
directly concerned in the development. He was the
recipient of the first building agreement (dated 8 August
1720, two days before his official appointment) covering
the area bounded on the north by Grosvenor Street, on
the west by Davies Street, and on the south and east
by the boundaries of the estate (no. 1 on plan A in the end
pocket), and he subsequently held all this land under one
lease granted in July 1721. For this he paid the very low
ground rent of £67 per annum, or 2s. per foot frontage
calculated on the frontage to Grosvenor Street only. (fn. 19)
Within this area he built the Mount Coffee House and
No. 75 Grosvenor Street (both now rebuilt) and some
coach-houses and stables in Grosvenor Mews, developing
the rest of his land by sub-leases to other builders or
occupiers. In improved ground rents alone he obtained
a profit of £280 per annum on this sub-development,
which was substantially complete by the time of his
death. (fn. 20)(fn. 1) He also took other parts of the estate under
building agreements, including (jointly with Robert
Andrews) the area bounded by Upper Brook Street on
the south, Park Street on the west, North Row on the
north and North Audley Street on the east (no. 55 on
plan A), the largest plot to be covered by a single agreement. (fn. 21) Building here had, however, hardly begun before
his death.

Barlow was one of the founder-directors of the Westminster Fire Office in 1717 (fn. 22) and was also one of the initial
Vestrymen of the parish of St. George, Hanover Square,
chosen by the 'Fifty Churches' Commissioners in 1725. (fn. 23)
On his death in January 1730 he was described as 'a very
noted Master-Builder'. (fn. 14) In a complaint brought in
Chancery by his descendants against one of his executors
it was stated that he left a leasehold estate which brought
in about £600 per annum in ground rents and £400 in
rack rents, several freehold houses and a personal estate
of upwards of £1,000. (fn. 24) While there may have been some
exaggeration in these figures there is little doubt that
Barlow's career as a builder had been eminently successful. He left the bulk of his estate to his son, Richard,
who died in 1740 'haveing greatly wasted and outrun his
fortune'. (fn. 25)

Footnotes

1. For the subsequent rise in value of this large leasehold plot see page 19.

7. B. H. Johnson, 'Note on the early development of the sites
of the buildings in Hanover Square and St. George
Street, Westminster', typescript in possession of G.L.C.
Survey of London section: Lambeth Palace Library,
MS. 2714, f. 3.